Making Akvavit

What do you drink, and how do you drink it?

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Odin
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Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

Hi there,

In this message, I will give you my recipe for making Akvavit. And to start with an important issue: the main ingredient in Akvavit is kummel or caraway, which is not the same as cumin. They do taste pretty much alike, but kummel is twice as strong in taste. Yield of esoteric oils in kummel is much higher.

But let's start from the beginning. Where does Akvavit or Kummel come from? It is probably the oldest liquor around. At least in the Northern parts of Europe. As early of the 15th century, kummel was made. It was - as with geneva and gin and tonic - pretty much a scientific invention. The bigger trading cities of Northern Europe (Northern Germany, The Netherlands, Scandinavia) were united in the Hanze Cities Collective. This trade co-operation boosted an economie based mostly on trading by sailing boats. Drinking water was not to be trusted in thes low and relative flat countries (no mountain water) and beer just didn't keep well for the prolonged time a boat trip took.

Kummel liquor was the answer. Due to a higer alcohol percentage than beer (probably around 30%, in those days), it could be kept pretty much indefinitely. The kummel oil helped the stomach in digesting the coarse food. It probably also helped to get rid of any bad smells and tastes in the drink, since distillation techniques were in their infancy and heads and tails were cut, but always (!) and contnuously fed back into the next batch, ever increasing the toxicity of the next drinks being made. Apart from kummel, other ingredients were used as well (herbs). Last, quite some sugar was used to further "improve" the taste and drinkability.

Since the Hanze Cities mostly traded around the North Sea and East Sea, kummel derivate like Akvavit can still be found in those regions: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmarkt, Northern Germany. In the Netherlands it is hardly made or drunk anymore, eventhough kummel can still be an ingrediënt in Dutch Gins.

The oldest official distillery of Bols And Sons (established in 1572 in Amsterdam and still in existence) made what we might now call a sort of gin / kummel hybrid. I worked out a recipe, that should not be too far of, further down this post. First, let's start with a "genuine" Akvavit. Like the ones nowadays made and drunk in Norway and Denmark. And maybe a bit better, due to a different way of distillation, a slightly different ageing technique, and information on how to really drink Akvavit.

First I make from a sugar wash, and through a skip run and a fractionating run, 95% pure alcohol. Heads and tails are discarded, hearts are collected. Secondly, I water this down to 35% abv with distilled water. In this base vodka I mix per liter: 15 grams of kummel, 5 grams of koriander, 4 grams of dill and 3 grams of mildly crushed juniper berries. Just as is the case with making a good geneva, it is important to macerate these herbs between 12 to 24 hours.

After maceration, do not take out the herbs, but distill everything in a pot still. Distill relatively slow. The wattage I use is around 90 watts per liter (so for 5 liters you might need some 450 watts). Collect everything that comes out of your pot still. No head seperation is needed. Do stop when half of what you started with is hauled over. Did you distill 10 litres of 35% base drink with herbs? Then stop when you collected 5 litres. Any more and you will get off tastes from herbs coming over, that have been heated too long or too much.

When distillation is finished, delute with distilled water to 38% and allow the drink to settle. Store it in bottles with some head space for air and let them rest for at least 48 hours before drinking. A week of rest is better, actually. Oils, alcohol and water get well balanced, which enhances taste.

Since kummel or Akvavit is a drink that used to be stored on sea going trips, adding some wood is perfectly possible. Try medium American oak, around 10 grams per litre and leave it to rest for 4 weeks, than strain of the wood and filter. After filtration another 48 hours of rest is needed to enable the liquor to re-find its balance.

Sweetening is alowed, although I do not prefer it. But if you do it, use brown sugar, please, and start with 5 grams per liter. If you like the effect, upgrade per 5 liter to a maximum of around 30 grams per liter. And please rememeber: every time you add something or do something (filter, add sugar, wood, etc.) give the drink another 48 hours of rest, afterwards.

Apart from sweetening, colouring is allowed in an Akvavit. I am not a fan of it, but a darker drink will improve the perceived quality by the people you drink it with. Not because the drink is better, but because it looks more expensive or older.

If you want that, make some caramel (heat sugar in a pan, keep on mixing it until it liquifies and turns brown, stop heating when you have the brownishness you want and ad a teaspoon per liter to your drink). The caramel has - because of the heating - hardly any taste difference or sweetening effect as a consequence.

How to drink Akvavit? Ask anyone from Scandinavia and they will say: "from the fridge!" and take out the bottle. The last part (taking out that bottle) is good, but keeping it in the fridge? No way! Taste papils loose the ability to taste when cooled under 10 degrees centigrade. So if you drink liquor from the fridge, it is just too cold to enjoy the flavours. Furthermore, a cooled drink with a lot of esoteric oils in it (like my recipe) tends to shrimp a little and push out the oils. Taste will be off, because of that.

Which drinks should you chill? The ones of which you do not like the taste. Cool it and you taste less. Why do Scandinavians drink their Akvavit cooled? Because of a number of reasons, probably. Mainly, because often Akvavit was made by maceration and not distillation. Alcohol (brandy, maltwine) was bought and kummel was added to the drink. After some 6 weeks the kummel would be strained of, sugar would be added and you were ready to go. Macerated kummel however, that isnt distilled over once more, tends to have a sharp even pungant taste and smell. Cooling it takes away most of the sharpness (and taste in general). And ... Scandinavia is a cold place. Long winters, men amongst each other, ice fishing, sauna, cooling down in the snow and then drinking an Akvavit. At ice temp and not room tenp. Not good, but that's how they do it.

Now another recipe I personally like. Add 10 grams of kummel, 10 grams of coriander and 10 grams of mildly crushed juniper berries to your 35% base vodka. Macerate for 12 to 24 hours and proceed as described above. This recipe might come very close to the first commercially distilled liquor in the world by Bols And Sons from Amsterdam. Its official name should be that it is a kummel jenever of kummel gin.

Good luck!
Odin
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

Thanks for the history lesson, I was first introduced to Aquavit while in Norway visiting my wifes cousins. I must say we really enjoyed the evening and drank more than we should of. I again found the word aquavit in one of Shakespears books and under the definitions it was listed as a strong spirits drink so I know it is very old. I made aquavit from a recipe by one of our members "Aquavit" who is from Sweden. I compared what I made with some store boat Aquavit from Norway called "Linie" everyone liked mine better it was actually smoother and a bit milder. The recipe I used was:
Aquavit
Here is the recipe for my favourite aquavit. It's a copy of the brand Falu Brännvin that is no longer made. It's both sweet and a little bit bitter and with elegant anise and citrus flavour.

Pour 1.5 pints of your finest 40% ABV neutral in a one litre container with a pretty big opening.
Add
*1 tsp whole caraway
*1 tsp whole fennel
*1 whole star anise
*15 g (.5 oz) of bitter orange peels

Let macerate for a week and then filter it.
Add 1 dl (7 tbsp) sugar and let it dissolve.

Now add some more neutral. This is a question of how strong flavour you like but I add about 25 cl (.5 pint) or so.

To add some body and sourness add 1 oz full bodied Scotch and the juice from half a lemon.

It's ready to drink right away but the taste gets better if it's allowed to rest for a while.
Enjoy!
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

Thanks for the recipe! Could you also send or post the one from our Swedish friend Aquavit? You write about it, but unfortunately, I cannot find it.

Odin
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by WalkingWolf »

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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

Thanx Walking Wolf,

I am surely going to try to make the Fallu Brannvin! Just went to the shop, only to found out anisette star and fennel could not be found. But I will keep on looking.

Great to see people taking an interest in Akvavit!

Buy, Odin
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

Just made a batch and its macerating as we speak! Actually been pretty busy the last couple days as I will put up some Limoncello tomorrow and yesterday I made 1-1/2 gallons of Apple Pie.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

Apple pie ... now to me that is something my wife bakes in the oven. And we know our apple pies in Holland! Somehow I feel you are talking about something different, though ...
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

Odin wrote:Apple pie ... now to me that is something my wife bakes in the oven. And we know our apple pies in Holland! Somehow I feel you are talking about something different, though ...
Yep, do a search in the recipe development section and you will find several recipes for it, also on the internet but I like mine a little stronger than that recipe! :D
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by aqua vitae »

I'm glad for the interest in akvavit. :thumbup:

I think one can use 1 tsp of aniseed instead of star anise if that can't be found.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

aqua vitae wrote:I'm glad for the interest in akvavit. :thumbup:

I think one can use 1 tsp of aniseed instead of star anise if that can't be found.
Your recipe has been a hit and better than any store bought version we can get in our area, just made another batch couple days ago!
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by aqua vitae »

I'm glad that you liked it :D
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

aqua vitae wrote:I'm glad that you liked it :D
This last batch that I made I think is my best so far! :D I can't tell the Norwegian cousins cause they drank all of what I had last time we were together.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

I am just thinking of making some more aquavit. Really feel like drinking some. Have making some neutral planned for tomorrow. Some? Well, actually I have some 27 liters of low wines at around 31%, so tomorrow will be a busy day.

I plan to do it by distillation, not maceration. The ingredients I can draw from are: kummel/caraway, dill, coriander, anise, bitter orange peel, juniper berries, angelica, liquorice and some other stuff.

Liquorice I will leave out. So hard to work with. Made a genever recipe just a few weeks ago ... turned out to be so hot due to that darn liquorice.

My plans go like this. Per liter of 60% nicely cut neutral:
- 10 grams of kummel/caraway;
- 5 grams of dill;
- 3 grams of coriander;
- 1 gram of juniper berries;
- 0.5 grams of bitter orange peel;
- 0.5 grams of anise;
- 0.5 grams of angelica.

Macerate for 12 to 24 hours. Dilute to 30%. Distill in a potstill with the herbs in the boiler. Collect like 40% of the boiler charge. My all copper potstill alambic can hold like 7 liters (a bit more, but I don't want any "transfer"), so I will collect about 3 liters at around 70%.

Dilute with filtered water to 40%. Give it a few weeks rest.

And that should do the trick.

Anyone any comments? Improvements?

Odin.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

So I just made the above recipe. Maceration on its way. The Dill really colours it green.

3 liters of vodka at 60% is used as the base drink for maceration. In a day or two I will put it in the boiler of my 10 liters all copper alambic, add another 3 liters of water and distill it. Distilling a 30% maceration haules over more taste (and a less dry taste) than at 60%, that's why. I expect to take a very, very small heads cut of around 20 to 30 mls (to get rid of excessive amounts of oils) and will collect around 2.5 liters at 70%. Should give me a bit over 4 liters at 42%.

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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Cristoir »

Odin wrote: My plans go like this. Per liter of 60% nicely cut neutral:
- 10 grams of kummel/caraway;
- 5 grams of dill;
- 3 grams of coriander;
- 1 gram of juniper berries;
- 0.5 grams of bitter orange peel;
- 0.5 grams of anise;
- 0.5 grams of angelica.

Macerate for 12 to 24 hours. Dilute to 30%. Distill in a potstill with the herbs in the boiler. Collect like 40% of the boiler charge. My all copper potstill alambic can hold like 7 liters (a bit more, but I don't want any "transfer"), so I will collect about 3 liters at around 70%.
Hey Odin, a couple of questions about this recipe,
Dill, do you use seeds or just dry leaves? In the picture above it looks like leaves. Dill seeds have much stronger flavour.
A few weeks of rest, is it just in a dark place or do you use oak cask / oak chips to go with it? Thanks!
I'll try to make some akvavit this weekend. :thumbup:
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

Try the leaves. And put it away in a dark place. In a bottle. That will do.

Regards, Odin.
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Re: Making Akvavit

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Odin wrote:I am just thinking of making some more aquavit. Really feel like drinking some. Have making some neutral planned for tomorrow. Some? Well, actually I have some 27 liters of low wines at around 31%, so tomorrow will be a busy day.

I plan to do it by distillation, not maceration. The ingredients I can draw from are: kummel/caraway, dill, coriander, anise, bitter orange peel, juniper berries, angelica, liquorice and some other stuff.

Liquorice I will leave out. So hard to work with. Made a genever recipe just a few weeks ago ... turned out to be so hot due to that darn liquorice.

My plans go like this. Per liter of 60% nicely cut neutral:
- 10 grams of kummel/caraway;
- 5 grams of dill;
- 3 grams of coriander;
- 1 gram of juniper berries;
- 0.5 grams of bitter orange peel;
- 0.5 grams of anise;
- 0.5 grams of angelica.

Macerate for 12 to 24 hours. Dilute to 30%. Distill in a potstill with the herbs in the boiler. Collect like 40% of the boiler charge. My all copper potstill alambic can hold like 7 liters (a bit more, but I don't want any "transfer"), so I will collect about 3 liters at around 70%.

Dilute with filtered water to 40%. Give it a few weeks rest.

And that should do the trick.

Anyone any comments? Improvements?

Odin.
Now this is interesting to me. I've been reading about making Akvavit without macerating. I want to try it.

How did it turn out? I'd love to know.

I was always a big fan of Aalborg Jubilaeums Akvavit, but we can't get it anymore. I really liked the Extra Akvavit. They were both amber, does that mean they were oaked?
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

It is a pretty good drink. Look up Bushman's recipe too, it might be even better. A bit sweeter and macerated instead of redistilled.

Regards, Odin.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Noesgaardk »

I've done a few by maceration. Some are ok, others not as good.

Is it worth it do redistill? Did you notice an improvement?

Thanks,

Ken.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

If you like an Akvavit that isn't sweet ... yeah. I like it.

Regards, Odin.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Noesgaardk »

Uffest Reflux Still Head
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Has anyone tried using a gin basket to make akvavit?

I have a Nixon Stone Offset Reflux still and I wondered if I put a basket with coriander, dill and orange peel into the horizontal connector between the reflux column and the condenser, would I be flavoring the distillate sufficiently?
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Re: Making Akvavit

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Just use it in potstill mode. Put all the herbs in the boiler. Not in the column. Herbs will inflate upon water/liquid contact and may jam the column, creating pressure issues.

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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by bearriver »

I really enjoyed reading some of the history in the OP. Well done Odin, I am looking forward to trying this recipe myself.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

Bear, did you ever get around and started making the Akvavit?

Regards, Odin.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Myndgame »

Reviving an old thread:

To Odin, in particular, or anyone else that has insight: When making beer I have to scrub the hop oil reside out of my kettle post boil. Would the herbs not leave behind an oily residue in the boiler as well, thereby giving future runs trace amounts of the herb taste?
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Odin »

In a copper column: yes. Not so in a SS column. In that case just flushing out with water would be enough.

Regards, Odin.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Deerhunter »

My father use to drink something similar I think. Underberg
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

If you like Aquavit (spelling depends on the Country) the German version a bit sweeter, is called Kümmel. I have a recipe somewhere here on the forum.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Leon »

A bit of necro posting, but I suddenly felt a need for testing a small batch of aquavitae (akevitt in norwegian).

Not a huge fan, but tolerate on the border to liking the oaked versions that is not to heavy on kummel.

In the jar now is 0,5L 96%, 10g kummel, 5g coriander, 1g ginger, 1g star anise, half the stem of a clove, 2 black pepper corns and a small stripe of tangerine peel.

Wish i had fennel seeds, but didn’t bother driving to the store, so used star anise instead. Fennel seeds are very much used in our norwegian akevitt. The dill stuff we’ll leave for the swedes, they love that stuff so much they even have dill seasoned chips...

Will dilute to 25-30% and collect roughly half or a little less.

This is just a quick’n dirty version that will be distilled tonight after only six hours maceration.
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Re: Making Akvavit

Post by Bushman »

Kümmel is a German version, in Europe it is called Aquavit liqueur. Which is basically a sweeter version of Aquavit. When making Aquavit I use Olin’s recipe as I have not found a better recipe. When making the Kümmel or Aquavit liqueur I use the following recipe.

KUMMEL
Kummel (Caraway Liqueur)

2 tablespoons crushed caraway seeds
1 tablespoon crushed fennel seeds
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
4 cups vodka
1.25 cups sugar
1 cup water
Glycerin

Combine caraway seeds, fennel seeds, cumin and vodka in a jar. Cover tightly and let steep for 2 weeks in a cool, dark place. Shake jar occasionally. When steeping period is complete, strain and filter the liquid.

Combine sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Combine sugar syrup with the filtered vodka mixture. Pour into bottles and cap tightly. Let age at least 1 month before serving. Refrigerate for 3 weeks.
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